Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Living Desert marks Wolf Awareness Day

By Martha MauritsonCurrent-Argus Special Sections

Posted:
10/22/2012

At the Living Desert just north of Carlsbad, the topic for Saturday was wolves.
Not the Red Riding Hood kind of wolf, but the kind that once roamed
southern New Mexico, parts of Arizona and Texas and central Mexico - the
Mexican gray wolf.

This wolf came close to extinction, thanks in
part to predator control programs that began some 100 years ago.Today,
recovery efforts are producing a modest growth in the wolf population.
And the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park at Carlsbad has
played an important role in the breeding program.

"The Mexican gray wolves are endangered," said Holly Payne, the zoo's general curator.
Because of the wide-spread misconception that "wolves are bad," the
Living Desert is joining zoos across the nation in marking today as Wolf
Awareness Day.
"We are trying to educate people on the aspect that they don't have to fear wolves," Payne said.
In fact, wolves would rather stay away from humans because, unlike
feral or even domestic dogs, wolves have not lost their fear of man.

Efforts to increase the wolf population and reintroduce them to their
former range also are a source of conflict between wildlife groups and
those who raise sheep and cattle.
And while zoo staff are well
aware of this ongoing conflict, they have a different focus, according
to park Superintendent Ken Britt.

"We are more interested in the species and its place as a carnivore in the ecosystem," said Britt.
The wolves at the Living Desert are all
males
- brothers, in fact - from a pure Mexican wolf bloodline. Thus, they
are important contributors to the breeding of more of their kind.

The Living Desert is one of just 52 institutions that exhibit and care for this breed of wolf.

Wolf Awareness Day

There were activities and information for every member of the family at Saturday's Wolf Awareness event.
Docent Susan Young displayed some of the teaching tools that will help young and old alike get a better feel for the wolf.

There are wolf footprints painted on canvas, to demonstrate the
animal's size and the typical pattern made by their footprints. There is
the skull of a wolf, that gives a good look at the powerful jaws and
canine teeth.
"Docents on the trail will use the display items so people can get the idea," Young said.
Activities were also planned for children.

And then there are the wolves themselves, who are usually visible
trotting through their large enclosure or resting beneath some of the
vegetation in their area.
Only four of the wolves will be at home
Saturday. Two of the local wolves have been sent to other zoos as part
of the breeding program: one is in Mexico and the other went to the
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.

Visitors won't want to miss the wolf quartet.
They look good at this time of year, almost like large, well-groomed
dogs. Their coats are thick and smooth, their steps light and effortless
as they move about. Sometimes the sound of splashing water tells
visitors that a wolf is visiting the water feature where he and his
brothers can drink or cool down on a warm day.

The film offers an abbreviated history of the relationship between wolves and people—told from the wolf’s perspective—from a time when they coexisted to an era in which people began to fear and exterminate the wolves.

The return of wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains has been called one of America’s greatest conservation stories. But wolves are facing new attacks by members of Congress who are gunning to remove Endangered Species Act protections before the species has recovered.

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Inescapably, the realization was being borne in upon my preconditioned mind that the centuries-old and universally accepted human concept of wolf character was a palpable lie... From this hour onward, I would go open-minded into the lupine world and learn to see and know the wolves, not for what they were supposed to be, but for what they actually were.

-Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf

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“If you look into the eyes of a wild wolf, there is something there more powerful than many humans can accept.” – Suzanne Stone